In the first three months, the company reported gaining after tax profit of 195 billion dong, equivalent to 37 percent of the same period last year. The slump in profit was due to declining steel consumption volume in Q1, down 6.4 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile the price for input materials (electricity, coal and petroleum prices) surged.

The slump in the groups’ steel production sector may cause effects to other supporting sectors such as coke coal. Due to difficulty in the national economy, HPG’s other production sectors such as interior decoration; construction machines have also suffered negative effects.